West & Central Africa Members: Save the date for AYC Event in The Gambia from 23-26 March 2019

Contact(s)

Lameck Jaston

Resources

Please save the date for the 3rd African Youth Conference on African Unity & Development hosted by the African Youth Commission in Banjul, The Gambia from 23-26 March 2019.

Dear Members in West and Central Africa,

You are kindly invited to save the date for the upcoming AYC conference to take place in Banjul, The Gambia, from 23-26 March 2019. The IOE will support our members in the region to attend this event with a view to enhancing mutually beneficial IOE-AYC collaboration in the future in the areas of youth and skills development.

In light of the persistent issues of skills development in the region, the aim of the employers’ organisation engagement is to host a side event on the Future of Work and to encourage dialogue on employment and entrepreneurship policies.

The annual African Youth Conference on African Unity and Development is a multi-stakeholder youth-led and driven platform which aims at building capacities and strengthening the engagement of children and youth in the current policy and decision-making processes at national, sub regional and continental levels. It will be a unique opportunity for members to engage in regional processes addressed to youth.

The specific aims of the 2019 Conference are to:

create a youth-led open space for young people to interact, promote Pan Africanism and participate in the implementation of the African Unity project;

inspire and encourage active youth leadership and participation in social, economic and political spheres at all levels;

dialogue and interact with policy makers to amplify youth voices in policy and decision making processes;

encourage youth-led action on curbing cross-border youth irregular migration and children on the move in Africa;

empower children and young women to make their voices heard in policy and decision making processes;

connect, build alliances and the capacity of youth to influence policies and practices of their National Governments, the African Union, Regional Economic Communities and other youth development actors on the African continent.

Limited funds are available through the IOE-EU Partnership Project to cover the participation of members from the region. If you would like to participate in the event, and to apply for financial support, kindly complete and return the Registration Form in the “Resources” section of this communication to Ms Caroline Balikungeri at balikungeri(at)ioe-emp.com and Ms Anetha Awuku at awuku(at)ioe-emp.com by 8 March at the latest to allow adequate time for the necessary arrangements to be made.

Further information, including the programme, will be provided to interested parties in due course. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and thank you for saving the date!